7 Yoga Stretches To Relieve Your Lower Back Tension
Lower back tension is a common issue that many women experience. The lower back, also known as the lumbar region, is particularly prone to tension and discomfort due to various factors such as poor posture, sedentary lifestyles, pregnancy, and postpartum, as well as everyday stress — and all those knots and kinks have to get worked out someway.
We sit for long periods of time between working and commuting, and sometimes our posture can be an afterthought until we notice an ache that surfaces over time. This form of discomfort often manifests as pain or stiffness and can be a source of discomfort that can affect our daily activities, sleep, and overall mobility. By addressing and relieving the tension, you can experience a significant reduction in pain and lead a more active and fulfilling life.
It’s important to listen to your body when aches, soreness, and tension arise. Lucky for us, there are various methods to relieve lower back tension, including regular exercise, stretching, yoga, and massage. And to help you get on your way to tension-free living, we have included a set of stretches specifically designed to alleviate those aches in your lower body.
1.Sphinx Pose
@theliberatedyogi Sphinx Pose for Day 3 of the #AffirmandAwaken challenge. It’s appropriate that today is hump day and that our affirmations today center around healing. I chose a baby back bend pose because it’s what my body needed today. Remember that yoga is not a competition. Affirmations for healing: 🙏🏾I am capable of healing 🙏🏾I can access tools and resources to support my healing 🙏🏾 My greatest healing comes from within 🙏🏾I embrace my healing journey Affirmations are statements that can help you to challenge and overcome self-sabotaging and negative thoughts. Research shows that positive affirmations can help change thought patterns and influence different behavioral changes for the better. 💡 Hosts: @sacredspacesyoga @raveenalexis @cryswic @_vibeswithjas @theliberatedyogi 💡 Pose Line Up: Hip Opener - Relationships Inversions - Self Love Backbend - Healing Balancing - Courage Heart Opener - Success It’s not too late to join us for this #AffirmAndAwaken challenge on IG. Come on! #liberationyoga #blackgirlmagic #blackyogateachers
2.“The Windshield Wiper”
@hellobojja Feel a release throughout the lower back - this will also create space across the thighs as your bringing movement to the legs - if you hear cracking keep going unless you feel pain, not to be confused with tension or pressure HOW Lay stomach down, arms in front of you with the forehead directly on the hands. Shoulder, hip bones and knees should all be in one line - bend the knee and bring the toes up to the sky - with light force drop the feet side to side . . . #hellobojja #fyp #stretchy #onthisday
3.Child's Pose
@laurenj.williams 8 Step Child’s Pose Preparation #fyp #foryoupage #yogaforbeginners #childspose
4.Cat/Cow
@itssydneynoelle a daily practice of cat/cow circles can do wonders for our bodies & here are a few reasons why! ✨ #catcowpose #catcowcircles #sacralchakraopening #blackgirlyogi #dailyyogapractice #dailymovement #spineactivation #movementismedicine
5.Downward-Facing Dog
@yogawithkrissyjay ✨Yoga Demo: Chataraunga, Upward Facing Dog, Downward Facing Dog✨ #yoga #yogagirl #yogaflow #yogi #blackyogi #blackgirlsdoyoga #fitness #mindfulness #meditation #yogalife #yogapractice #yogapose #yogapants
6.Needle and Thread
@samm_yv Tight back? I got you ! 🖐🏾✨ #yogatips #divinefeminine #learnontiktok #yogapose #selfcare #wellnessroutine #neckpain #spineflexibility #flexibility #fyp
7.Happy Baby
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Aley Arion is a writer and digital storyteller from the South, currently living in sunny Los Angeles. Her site, yagirlaley.com, serves as a digital diary to document personal essays, cultural commentary, and her insights into the Black Millennial experience. Follow her at @yagirlaley on all platforms!
Smile, Sis! These Five Improvements Can Upgrade Your Oral Hygiene Instantly
This article is in partnership with Sensodyne.
Our teeth are connected to so many things - our nutrition, our confidence, and our overall mood. We often take for granted how important healthy teeth are, until issues like tooth sensitivity or gum recession come to remind us. Like most things related to our bodies, prevention is the best medicine. Here are five things you can do immediately to improve your oral hygiene, prevent tooth sensitivity, and avoid dental issues down the road.
1) Go Easy On the Rough Brushing: Brushing your teeth is and always will be priority number one in the oral hygiene department. No surprises there! However, there is such a thing as applying too much pressure when brushing…and that can lead to problems over time. Use a toothbrush with soft bristles and brush in smooth, circular motions. It may seem counterintuitive, but a gentle approach to brushing is the most effective way to clean those pearly whites without wearing away enamel and exposing sensitive areas of the teeth.
2) Use A Desensitizing Toothpaste: As everyone knows, mouth pain can be highly uncomfortable; but tooth sensitivity is a whole different beast. Hot weather favorites like ice cream and popsicles have the ability to trigger tooth sensitivity, which might make you want to stay away from icy foods altogether. But as always, prevention is the best medicine here. Switching to a toothpaste like Sensodyne’s Sensitivity & Gum toothpaste specifically designed for sensitive teeth will help build a protective layer over sensitive areas of the tooth. Over time, those sharp sensations that occur with extremely cold foods will subside, and you’ll be back to treating yourself to your icy faves like this one!
3) Floss, Rinse, Brush. (And In That Order!): Have you ever heard the saying, “It’s not what you do, but how you do it”? Well, the same thing applies to taking care of your teeth. Even if you are flossing and brushing religiously, you could be missing out on some of the benefits simply because you aren’t doing so in the right order. Flossing is best to do before brushing because it removes food particles and plaque from places your toothbrush can’t reach. After a proper flossing sesh, it is important to rinse out your mouth with water after. Finally, you can whip out your toothbrush and get to brushing. Though many of us commonly rinse with water after brushing to remove excess toothpaste, it may not be the best thing for our teeth. That’s because fluoride, the active ingredient in toothpaste that protects your enamel, works best when it gets to sit on the teeth and continue working its magic. Rinsing with water after brushing doesn’t let the toothpaste go to work like it really can. Changing up your order may take some getting used to, but over time, you’ll see the difference.
4) Stay Hydrated: Upping your water supply is a no-fail way to level up your health overall, and your teeth are no exception to this rule. Drinking water not only helps maintain a healthy pH balance in your mouth, but it also washes away residue and acids that can cause enamel erosion. It also helps you steer clear of dry mouth, which is a gateway to bad breath. And who needs that?
5) Show Your Gums Some Love: When it comes to improving your smile, you may be laser-focused on getting your teeth whiter, straighter, and overall healthier. Rightfully so, as these are all attributes of a megawatt smile; but you certainly don’t want to leave gum health out of the equation. If you neglect your gums, you’ll start to notice the effects of plaque buildup, which can irritate the gums and cause gingivitis, the earliest stage of gum disease. Seeing blood while brushing and flossing is a tell-tale sign that your gums are suffering. You may also experience gum recession — a condition where the gum tissue surrounding your teeth pulls back, exposing more of your tooth. Brushing at least twice a day with a gum-protecting toothpaste like Sensodyne Sensitivity and Gum, coupled with regular dentist visits, will keep your gums shining as bright as those pearly whites.
Megan Thee Stallion Shares The 'Intense' Workout Routine That’s Got Her Snatched
One thing about Megan Thee Stallion is that she’s going to motivate you to stay active. From afar, she seems like the perfect gym bestie, and up close, it looks like her workouts would have us gasping for air. But hey, she doesn’t call her routines “bootcamp” for nothing.
After an extended break from social media and the public eye, the Houston Hottie is back sharing the high-energy workouts that are keeping her lean and she’s happy to report that “the results have been resulting."
The 28-year-old rapper dropped an Instagram Reel, detailing the workout routine that’s putting her endurance to the test. With the help of her personal trainer, Megan has one word in mind when it comes to her progress and that’s: “Consistency.”
The “Savage” artist has been traveling, making “hot girl moves," and after returning from a trip to New York, she expressed that her trainer is pushing her to keep the same energy back in the gym.
“I had just gotten back from New York and I told my trainer, ‘Look, friend, I was having a time. Can you please take it easy?’” Megan said. “He said, ‘Hmm, I’ve seen you doing all that hot girl s—, so what you need to do is get in that gym and have that same energy.’”
Her trainer then instructed her to do jumping squats with an exercise ball and resistance band around her legs for an extra burn. “I put my thing down, flipped it, and reversed it and that’s what happened. This sh– burned like a motherf—,” she teased in the video’s voiceover while executing both forward and backward jumping squats.
It’s clear that when it comes to Megan’s fitness, her trainer doesn’t play around about pushing her to her limits. In the next set of her cardio moves, we see the Grammy-winning artist jumping rope and moving on to a combination of mountain climbers and lateral jumps over a speed hurdle.
“Right here, that’s when I realized: I’ve been saying my trainer’s crazy but I know he’s really, really crazy because he must think that I’m trying out for the Houston Texans or something,” she joked.
To finish her workout, Meg hit two more barbell exercises, one being a set of cleans with 10-pound weight plates on the barbell. She then closed out by doing lunges with the barbell racked on her shoulders.
Of course, the best way to close out a workout is to nourish yourself with a balanced meal. Meg showed off her delicious post-workout plate with salmon, a sweet potato, and assorted veggies.
With so much of her public life being shared on the internet, it’s nice to see her letting us in on her progress in a fun and motivating way. “I just want to be transparent with y'all. Working out hurts, but it’s really a mental thang, so go do it!”
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